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Tom Izzo talks Michigan State's 63-54 win over Maryland

Michigan State Hockey Sets Program Record, Aims For More In 2024

The Spartans have enjoyed a resurgence on the ice under second-year head coach Adam Nightingale...

Michigan State men's ice hockey has enjoyed a resurgence during the second year of head coach Adam Nightingale's tenure and finds itself in contention for its first regular season Big Ten championship in over two decades.

Heading into a massive two-game series against in-state rival Michigan, Spartans currently lead the Big Ten standings at 12-4-2 in conference play. Those 12 Big Ten wins are new single-season record for Michigan State, and the Spartans have six more opportunities to add to their record total.

The final push for a conference crown begins this weekend, when No. 9 Michigan State travels to No. 11 Michigan (7-7-1 Big Ten) on Friday (7 p.m.) before a second matchup with the Wolverines at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit for the "Duel in the D". The Spartans split a two-game series with their rivals earlier this season, suffering a 7-1 defeat in East Lansing before coming back from a three-goal deficit to stun the Wolverines in Ann Arbor, 7-5.

After battling Michigan this weekend, Michigan State will then turn its attention to back-to-back home games against Ohio State (1-15-1), the Big Ten's last-place team, over the weekend of Feb. 24-25. Then comes the biggest series of them all, when the Spartans travel to Madison for a matchup with second-place Wisconsin (11-4-1) for a final two games which could determine the champions of the Big Ten. Michigan State has not won a regular season conference title since 2001.

In 2022-23, Nightingale took over a program that was reeling, having suffered seven consecutive losing seasons and having not finished above .500 in Big Ten play since 2014-15. In his first year, Nightingale led Michigan State to an 18-18-2 record overall, with an 8-12 mark in Big Ten play. In Year 2, the head coach has led the Spartans to an 18-7-3 overall record and has MSU in position to end its conference championship draught.

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